Witch Special

Ever since witnessing Saitama's seemingly limitless strength, Lin Zhenxi no longer had any desire to challenge the bald man. Life was good enough, so why make yourself uncomfortable?

So, when it came to going to the Hero Association, she chose to take her time, first casting an invisibility spell on herself to reduce her presence, then slowly mounted her broom and flew towards the city center of City Z. Sure enough, when Lin Zhenxi flew over the Hero Association, she saw from afar a large, reflective bald man standing at the entrance of the Hero Association, his hands on his hips, stamping his feet constantly, and looking around.

Although Saitama couldn't wait to walk into the building in front of him with the sign of "Hero Association Z City Branch", he still stayed where he was, waiting for Lin Maki to arrive.

Hayashi Maki landed in front of Saitama, but because of the invisibility technique, Saitama's focus was not on Hayashi Maki at all, and he was still looking at the sky aimlessly.

Lin Zhenxi put away the broom and snapped his fingers to remove the magic effect on himself.

Improved invisibility, with its core focus on reducing presence, eliminates the issue of sudden reappearance and disappearance, making it usable even in crowded urban areas. While it's useful, due to the ranged effect, it consumes roughly the same amount of mana as four regular invisibility spells. However, considering its effectiveness, this extra mana cost is perfectly acceptable.

"Hey, how long has Uncle been here?"

After Lin Zhenxi spoke, Saitama's eyes focused on her. He scratched his head and said puzzledly: "It's strange, I clearly saw you just now, why didn't I react?"

"Oh, these are just small problems, don't worry about them." Lin Zhenxi waved his hand, telling Saitama not to worry about these small problems.

Saitama nodded, and surprisingly, he really didn't dwell on this issue anymore. Just like Hayashi Maki had given up competing with Saitama, Saitama no longer cared about Hayashi Maki's occasional mysteriousness.

"Since you're here, Xiaolin, let's go in."

Lin Zhenxi's Baizhi has been one of the hottest news stories in City Z lately, second only to Wildhammer's rise to S-class hero status. This has also brought Lin Zhenxi, the founder, fame. Even though she maintains a low profile, her appearance is no longer a secret within the city's upper echelons. For example, within the Z City Government and the Hero Association.

Despite the Hero Association's high-sounding propaganda and its founding philosophy of "protecting humanity from monsters," the government of this world is already struggling financially just to repair the various facilities damaged by the monsters. It's simply unable to allocate a large amount of funds to maintain the operation of the Hero Association, a global organization. Therefore, the Hero Association's main source of income is not the government, but the "selfless donations" of various wealthy businessmen.

This is also the main reason why Lin Zhenxi gave up on becoming a registered hero after learning about the hero system in this world. The heroes in this world, to put it nicely, are the umbrellas of protection for the people, but in reality, they all need to obey the orders of the Hero Association. With just a word from the Hero Association, they will become the personal bodyguards of VIPs.

Perhaps the most powerful heroes, those who are among the top in S-class, have the capital to negotiate terms and reason with the Hero Association on an equal footing, but if Lin Zhenxi also wants to fight for such a status, she needs to expose too many cards, which is obviously not conducive to her foothold in this world.

After all, her things were a bit too outrageous and incompatible with the original power system of this world. There were countless Frankensteins in this world, and if she exposed herself too early, Lin Zhenxi felt that there would definitely be many people who would target her.

Even now, she felt she was being low-key enough. She'd just made a pillow to help with sleep and sold it, and yet this "organization" had come looking for trouble. If she started to show off, who knew what would come out.

Since there was no way to overturn the existing Hero Association system, and since he didn't want to become a registered hero and be subject to the Hero Association's various rules and regulations, the best solution was to join it and become a wealthy person who could influence and exploit the Hero Association. Bai Zhi was founded by Lin Zhenxi to achieve this goal.

The arrival of Lin Zhenxi, a highly promising hidden VIP, instantly made the Hero Association's front desk receptionist nervous, and she quietly pressed the emergency button to notify her supervisor. Not long after, a neatly dressed, even his hair meticulously combed, seemingly a typical social elite, rolled up to Lin Zhenxi with a beaming smile on his face.

However, Lin Zhenxi paid little attention to this guy. He was just a slave to money, a soulless person. He was boring. And she wasn't the main character today. She was just there to accompany Saitama to sign up to become a professional hero, to see how professional heroes in this world were evaluated and created, to satisfy her curiosity. She really didn't plan to do anything else.

Moreover, seeing that Hayashi Maki was already being harassed and unable to get a word in, Saitama went to the front desk to sign up. He had already filled out the form and was heading to the back of the Hero Association. Seeing that Saitama had already walked away, Hayashi Maki quickly expressed to this ordinary human elite male his desire to observe the hero evaluation process and subtly mentioned his interest in supporting the cause of heroes. The supervisor immediately burst into enthusiasm and personally led Hayashi Maki to the second floor of the Hero Association, an observation deck with an unobstructed view of the testing grounds below.

Through the highly transparent glass, Lin Zhenxi could see that the test area below was already divided into groups for various physical fitness tests. Among the diverse and uniquely dressed crowd, a bald man in casual attire stood out.

Although their outfits are eye-catching, at least they pay attention to highlighting their own characteristics. As for Saitama, he looks like he went to the supermarket at the entrance of the community to buy soy sauce and registered as a professional hero by the way. It is so casual that it makes people angry.

The supervisor noticed Lin Zhenxi's intense concentration and explained, "With the emergence of the new S-class hero, Wildhammer, City Z now has its own S-class hero. This has greatly boosted human morale and fueled a passion for increasing humanity's strength. Recently, many energetic young people like this have joined the ranks of registered heroes and are on the front lines of the battle against monsters."

"But they... are actually ordinary people, right? Sending them to fight monsters will probably not make much sense other than increasing casualties." Lin Zhenxi questioned, staring at the testers below who took more than ten seconds to run a hundred meters.

The monsters of this world are no joke. They're serious about wiping out every last human. Whether heroes or ordinary humans, the monsters strike without hesitation. And ordinary people, facing monsters, are as fragile as clay, shattering at the slightest touch. Allowing ordinary people to become registered heroes is like sending untrained civilians into battle; both are crimes against humanity.

"That's right, so most of them won't become heroes in the end. The Hero Test exists to keep out those ordinary people who can't fight monsters." Speaking of his professional field, the director pushed his glasses up his nose, his demeanor suddenly becoming stern. While he's a bootlicker for the capitalists, he's also the administrator of the city's Hero Association. Of course, he can't be just an incompetent person who only knows how to wag his tail and fawn.

Lin Zhenxi was quite satisfied with this answer. If the Hero Association really sent ordinary people to the battlefield without any assessment, then she would probably lower her evaluation of the Hero Association even more.

"Of course, if the person specifically requests it and his/her character is up to par, we will also agree to let an ordinary person become a hero. For example, the current No. 1 in Class C, the Unlicensed Knight, is just an ordinary person with no special abilities." The supervisor then added.

Lin Zhenxi:......

Forget it. After all, the Hero Association has already fulfilled its obligation to explain. If you are still obsessed with it, then you may really want to be a hero to the point of not fearing death.

City Z's population ranks last among all numbered cities. Even with the surge in registered heroes due to the appearance of an S-class hero, the number of people isn't that high. While it looks impressive from above, the testing is proceeding very quickly because the projects are being tested simultaneously. At the current rate, today's testing will be complete in less than two hours.

Then, they eliminate 95% of them, letting them take off their leather suits and go back to work as office workers, leaving behind a few promising youngsters. The daily routine of the Hero Association is actually quite dull and boring.

But today, a lively loach suddenly mixed into the daily life that was originally as calm as a glass of clear water, and turbulence was inevitable.

Under Lin Zhenxi's expectant gaze, the dazzling bald man, after some arguments with his fellow examinee, finally stood on the starting line of the speed test together with the other party.

Saitama's first test to become a registered hero is finally about to begin.